New Zealand’s tax and welfare policies are a mess.
Could the solution be abolishing the current welfare system and radically overhauling the tax system?

Is this feasible? Is it desirable?

Is the whole point of a tax and welfare system to redistribute from the well-off to the rest (we say it is)? Or is it just to transfer only to those in need—the “deserving poor”? There is a big difference, and our welfare state has strayed from its origins.

The Big Kahuna puts some radical changes to tax and welfare on the table.

Everyone aged 18 or over gets an unconditional, tax-free basic income (called the UBI).

This basic income replaces all other government-provided cash transfers—NZ Super, DPB, Unemployment Benefit, Working for Families.